To Touch the Devil is to Die
by Elf Asato
Summary: Post X17, AUish. The direct events leading to the Apocalypse are sent in motion.


**Title:** to touch the DEVIL is to die  
**Author:** Elf Asato  
**Written:** 8/21/05  
**Summary:** Post X-17!Subaru hates red, and that sets the events of the Final Day into motion.  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine.  
**Warnings:** AU because it explores the end of the manga, character death.  
**Notes:** 30angsts: 25 (where the title comes from). Subaru _so_ does not realize how creepy he is... 

**to touch the DEVIL is to die**  
prologue  
_By Elf Asato_

After his sister was killed, Subaru Sumeragi stopped wearing the gloves that his grandmother had forced him to wear; there was no point to it anymore, after all. The Sakurazukamori had already found him. But upon _becoming_ the Sakurazukamori, he began to wear them again.

He figured distantly that there was probably some psychological aspect to his sudden decision, but a part of him didn't like the hot, squishy feel of plunging his hand through someone's chest, so dirtying black, leather gloves was more pleasant. So was an all-black wardrobe. Blood was harder to spot on black than white, and since becoming the Sakurazukamori, Subaru developed a strong distaste towards the color red.

Fire, passion, blood, camellias, roses, anger, he hated them all. He wanted to paint the world black to cover up that awful color.

**Kanoe**

After Subaru became a Dragon of Earth, his fellow Angels began to notice one by one that all their red belongings disappeared. Satsuki had several tops and a jacket disappear, and Fuuma had to bargain for Subaru to return his traditional school uniform, but the worst offender was Kanoe. She owned several red outfits designed to bring out her seductiveness, and one day they all disappeared.

Kanoe thought at first that Fuuma had played some sophomoric practical joke on her, so she went out and replaced her clothes and then some with all shades of red as a form of retail therapy. But those disappeared as well, and she grilled Fuuma with an angry intensity until she was convinced that he was not at fault.

He knew who _had_ taken her clothes, though, and quietly replaced them one day, telling Subaru that he would just have to tolerate Kanoe's red since he didn't feel like dealing with her again.

That's when Subaru's resentment towards Kanoe began.

**Kusanagi**

At first, the Sakurazukamori liked Kusanagi, who he rarely saw out of the Angel's conscious attempts to avoid him, because he never wore red. He was rarely passionate or angry, and he didn't surround himself with red flowers - only green plants.

And Subaru liked green. It reminded him of familiar, good times.

Eventually, he began to hate Kusanagi with a passion, despite his green. He had been stalking him one day, watching him and drawing comfort from his personality, when he saw the Angel interact with a very cheerful Seal he had once known. An instant distaste formed in his mouth as he watched the older man buy the young girl ice cream, watched them sit on a park bench and talk, watched them play with the spirit dog. There were too many parallels in his mind for comfort.

So he hated Kusanagi not only because he reminded him of Seishirou, but Yuzuriha reminded him of himself at sixteen. And he hated them because they were happy. They'd live happily ever after - happily - ever - after - and he hated that because _they_ never did.

**Nataku**

Subaru had no real problem with Nataku at first. He owned a few red stuffed animals, but those were quickly disposed of, and out of what he considered the kindness of his black heart, Subaru replaced them all with less-offensive colors.

The problem was that recently Nataku had begun to _like_ red, and after his stuffed animals were mysteriously replaced, he began to surround himself with more red things. Things that couldn't be stolen or replaced.

Like the pretty fire-user.

Fuuma recognized a major problem brewing and on several occasions he tried convincing Subaru to let it go, to ignore Kazuki's new red scarf or his fingerpainting done entirely in red, or even to learn to like red for his own sake. But all these attempts were useless, and he knew it.

So before Subaru could do something to the marking on Nataku's forehead that he had recently filled in with a red marker, Fuuma made Kazuki disappear, and all that was left of him was a pretty fire-user who wore black for the week after.

**Yuuto**

At first, Subaru didn't know whether he liked Yuuto or not. He couldn't tell if his pink suit was closer to red or to white, and he seriously contemplated replacing the water-user's entire wardrobe with black just so he wouldn't have to be stuck with indecision about pink. However, once Subaru found Yuuto's eyes to be a pleasant shade of green, he felt more at ease about the color that was not quite red yet not quite white.

Simply looking into Yuuto's eyes comforted him, and he would strike up conversations with him just so he could look into green, like one of his own used to be. Once, he put his black and gloved hands on both sides of Yuuto's face and wordlessly gazed into his eyes. Naturally, the Angel was getting the wrong idea of Subaru's intentions.

The day Yuuto took the Sakurazukamori aside and told him that, while a beautiful man he was, he was simply not interested - he wasn't like that, he said, he didn't swing that way - was a turning point in their interactions. After Subaru apologized and explained awkwardly that his green eyes were very comforting and familiar, and he in no way had those sorts of feelings towards the man, the two, oddly, began to spend more time with each other.

As it would have it, Subaru Sumeragi actually gained a friend, a friend who began to see him as more than that simply because he wasn't interested in him.

**Satsuki**

Aside from her owning a red coat, Subaru had no problem with Satsuki - he liked her even and their personalities seemed to mesh well - but Satsuki certainly had a problem with Subaru, and that problem was Yuuto. BEAST liked Subaru because he kept Yuuto away from Satsuki, but BEAST was not Satsuki, and Satsuki hated Subaru more than she felt was humanly possible.

Yuuto was the only one who could quell the computer genius' jealousy, and he did so by spending time with her, even to the point of neglecting Kanoe, who certainly did not appreciate the extra attention the well-endowed, yet younger girl was gaining. It set off a chain reaction of resentment among the Angels.

He couldn't have hoped for anything better.

Satsuki didn't see why Yuuto had to make friends with the Sakurazukamori, and frequently at tea, she and Kanoe would ask about it. But as always, he gave noncommittal answers.

They asked Subaru himself about his friendship with Yuuto, but the only clear answer they could derive was _green_.

Satsuki almost thought of she and Kanoe as a team in trying to center Yuuto's attentions back to them and teatime, but that was disrupted by Yuuto's sudden shift to Kanoe and her breasts. It was just the thing to make her despise the older woman as well as the ex-Seal.

So she hated them both and confined herself to BEAST and Yuuto, not realizing how human she had become until she was electrocuted.

**Kakyou**

When he wasn't with Yuuto, Subaru preferred to sit in Kakyou's room simply for its lack of any distinct color, especially red. He had never met the dream seer until a little while after becoming an Angel, and while he knew objectively that the comatose man could traverse dreams, he never thought to sleep and visit him, not realizing his connection with Hokuto. And, in turn, Kakyou had no desire to visit the Sakurazukamori because of what he had become.

Kakyou hated the old Sakurazukamori for taking away the only girl he had ever loved, and he hated the new one for taking her memory away. As he complained to Fuuma, he felt that Subaru should have tried to live in his _sister_'s memory rather than her _killer_'s. But like Yuuto, Fuuma was non-committal; he had never known Hokuto, but he _had_ known and liked Seishirou, so he never gave clear opinions to the dream seer.

So it always irritated Kakyou when Subaru would come into his room and sit. He was only thankful that that was _all_ he did.

**Fuuma**

Any instances of Fuuma owning red was relatively forgivable to Subaru, though he was quick in his attempts to dispose of them. And the Kamui, amazingly, didn't hold a grudge or dislike Subaru any for it, though he found it tiring trying to put rightful red back into his life. He considered it his own personal secret from the Sakurazukamori that red was his favorite color.

Before his friendship with Yuuto began, Fuuma was the closest thing to a friend that Subaru had at the moment, but after, he immediately noticed the shifts in relationships among the Angels. Granted, they weren't a close bunch to begin with - not like the Seals - but they at least had some relative unity, especially after Seishirou's death. When Yuuto and Subaru became friends, though...

Fuuma took the disintegrating ties between the surviving Angels as a hint that the immediate events leading to the Apocalypse were finally in motion.


End file.
